ALL you need to know about machinery at Cereals:

Machinery and kit is without a doubt one of the largest costs on any farm, so making the right choice is essential – and that's where Cereals comes in pointed out the organisers.

For many visitors it will be the first opportunity to see new equipment in action or directly compare different brands during the many demos.

There will be millions of pounds worth of kit on display at Cereals: “Whether you’re on a budget or looking for latest high-end kit, there will be an array of equipment on display to suit all needs,” said Jon Day, the event's director.

“With support from Defra secretary, Michael Gove, for min-till and no-till techniques after the UK leaves the EU, farmers may be considering potential changes to their tillage, drilling practices and precision technology requirements. Visitors to this year’s event will find, plenty of help at hand, with experts offering advice on what is out there to maximise productivity, efficiency and of course, profitability.”

As well as a wide range of static machinery, visitors will also be able to see kit in action with the return of the Syngenta Sprays and Sprayers arena, where 18 exhibitors will demonstrate their latest kit.

A new cover crop drilling demo is on the agenda, where exhibitors including Cousins of Emneth, Dale Drills, Ryetech Industrial Equipment and Sim-Tec Aitchison will demonstrate direct drilling on an 8ha area sown with a mix of cover crops.

Some of the highlights include:

Amazone

Amazone has four new bits of kit making their UK debut – the Centaya harrow-mounted pneumatic drill, the Ceus disc and tine combination cultivator, the Citan 12001C ISOBUS solo seed drill and the UX 01 trailed sprayer.

Available in a 3m working width, the Centaya has a light plastic seed hopper which reduces the lifting power required and the distribution head has also been repositioned above the coulters, bringing the centre of gravity substantially further forward.

The UX 01 sprayer is available in tank sizes of 4200, 5200 and 6200 litres and a feature is its smooth underbelly to prevent crop damage. It is also shaped to offer surge-free operation for safety on the road and stability in the field, while a new 28-degree steering axle provides a tightest turning circle.

Load-sensing anti-lock brakes come as part of the package and the sprayer is kept in the tractor track by an automatic hillside compensating AutoTrail system.

Fendt

Fendt returns to Cereals 2018 to debut its new range of trailed sprayers.

The Rogator 300 trailed sprayers are based on the established self-propelled Rogator 600 design. It has tank capacities of 3300, 4400, 5500 and 6600 litres, with operating widths of between 24m and 30m.

Garford Farm Machinery

It is embracing robotic technology with its Robocrop InRow weeder.

For use on a variety of crops – including brassicas, sugar beet and lettuces – this uses a digital camera to capture images of the crop ahead of the tool bar, which are then processed and analysed to find the position of the individual plant to enable lateral steering of the hoe and individual synchronisation of the InRow weeder discs.

Speeds depend on cropping and plant spacing – with a minimum spacing of 15cm required for the machine to be worthwhile – however, users can expect to achieve between 2kph and 8kph.

Halse South West

As the Ovlac UK importer, it will be showcasing the latest addition to the firm’s fleet, the 400p 4m Eurodisc folding harrow.

This machine has 24-inch serrated discs, working at a vertical angle of 16.8° and advance of 21°. A larger disc, with four times the contact area of the smaller disc alongside it, can achieve complete soil movement across the entire working width, without the need to go deeper to achieve this.

A unique feature is individual leaf spring protection which means that when an obstacle is encountered, the leafspring pressure diminishes rather than increases as you might experience with a coil spring design.

As the discs are mounted on independent legs, they can adapt to ground contours and respond to obstacles without influence on one another.

Hands Free Hectare (Harper Adams University)

Automation and robotics are likely to play an important role in the future of arable farming, but the only live demonstration of how is might work will be shown by Harper Adams University and Precision Decisions.

Last year, their project set out to be the first in the world to drill, tend and harvest a crop without operators on the machines and agronomists in the field. After a successful harvest and gaining funding from AHDB, the project has returned for a second year.

Project lead, Kit Franklin, explains: “In November, 2017, we successfully drilled our second crop, a hectare of winter wheat, with the Iseki TLE 3400 tractor and Simtech drill which we used in the first round of the project, but this time with improved accuracy.

“The 38hp tractor, which has been integrated with a drone autopilot, was selected due to its hydrostatic transmission, which makes it highly controllable. To operate what would usually be hand and foot controls, we’ve used linear actuators as might be found in a combine for sieve adjustment.”

Horsch

Several pieces of new kit from Horsch will be getting their UK debut – including the latest Serto 12 SC and Pronto NT drills, the new Cruiser 6 XL and Terrano GX cultivators and the Express KR.

The Serto SC is a compact seed drill for large farms, with working widths of 10m and 12m. Two seed coulters run behind tyre packers with a row spacing of 16.6cm, while an all-over packer lowers horsepower requirement and saves fuel.

Available in 6m, 8m and 9m working widths, the Pronto NT features the TurboDisc double disc coulter at 20cm row spacing in combination with a compact, leading wavy disc, making it ideal for mulch and direct seeding.

The Express KR singulation drill is a new metering technology that enables precise seed application. Seed is drawn from a main hopper by a central volume metering unit. This pre-metered seed is pneumatically conveyed to the respective seed row to achieve high singling accuracy.

Househam Sprayers

Househam Sprayers's latest self-propelled sprayers on show will include the 230hp Predator.

It has a 5000-litre stainless steel spray tank and 36m tri-fold boom, but it weighs just 10,440kg (unladen).

Innovations include a level 4 filtration system in the cab, individual nozzle control, auto nozzle select and Househam’s V5 Controller with FieldMaster GPS mapping and guidance.

“We’ll be demonstrating in the arena to show farmers the technology and efficiency of our future-proofed machinery,” said Robert Willey, managing director of Househam. “We’re excited to be sharing our newest machinery with Cereals’ visitors before anyone else.”

John Deere

With its new PowrSpray solution system, a larger 5000-litre capacity and lightweight carbon fibre boom, John Deere’s R4050i self-propelled sprayer will be demonstrated for the first time in the Syngenta Sprays and Sprayers arena.

Its use of carbon fibre boom around 800kg from the rear of the machine, thus improving weight distribution – as does carrying the extra weight of liquid in the larger tank in the centre of the vehicle.

Able to spray at widths of 18m or 36m, the boom is much lighter than steel or aluminium designs but doesn’t compromise on strength as the carbon fibre estimated to be 5.5 times stronger than steel and still able to flex.

Ultrasonic sensors track the height of both the ground and the crop simultaneously, providing better performance in down or very open crops, or in crops grown in rows. Active Roll Control employs dedicated gyroscopic sensors in the centre of the boom to monitor and compensate for movement of the vehicle suspension and provide very precise control of the boom position.

Manitou

First previewed in 2017, Manitou’s new MLA-T articulated loader will be on display at this year’s event.

The central positioning and width of the driver’s cab is different to traditional telehandlers, improving visibility. It also boasts an impressive load chart, with a maximum capacity of 3.3 tonnes and a 5.2m lifting height, achieved by its unique 2D central articulation and oscillating rear axle.

New Holland

After a break from the event, New Holland returns to be showcase the new T6 Dynamic Command multi-purpose tractor.

This has a new eight-step semi-powershift transmission which complements the T6 Electro Command and Auto Command models.

New Holland will also have its latest rotary combine, the CR9.80 Revelation on 24-inch SmartTrax (with Flex Technology) on display.

The company reckons that residue management is likely to be one of the biggest challenges facing farmers over the next 10 years so, and so its CR range benefits from a revised residue management system.

That includes an award-winning chaff distribution system, a revised straw chopper rotor for finer chopping and revisions to the Opti-SpreadTM system to ensure even spreading of chopped material out to 14.5m.

Opico

HE-VA (distributed by Opico) will be showcasing its latest Evolution precision drilling and seed placement system which is now in mounted 3m and trailed 4m and 5m versions.

The seed bed is prepared by the low disturbance, medium-depth sub-soiling legs and points which alleviate compaction and improve soil structure. This encourages good rooting with resulting early, vigorous spring growth. A V-profile roller then re-consolidates, creating a micro-tilth ready for seed placement.

A front disc works ahead of each leg, slicing through the soil surface to ensure minimal soil disturbance. This prevents blackgrass seed being brought to the surface, explained James Woolway, managing director at Opico.

“The double-disc coulter enables seed placement to be controlled precisely and consistently to a required depth, providing ideal conditions for germination,” he pointed out. The rear wheel then closes and re-consolidates, ensuring good seed to soil contact.

Also on this stand will be the launch of the improved Sky Maxidrill 10 series, which now has the ability to seed three different products from separate hoppers with individual metering systems, feeding into two distribution circuits which can place products at two different depths.

This enables targeted fertiliser applications, reducing the total amount applied and minimising waste – particularly useful where crops have a shorter growing window and need to get off to the best possible start.

Spaldings

Another debut at the event will be the Geacut 600 – the new high-speed cultivator from Spaldings, manufactured by Sacho Land Solutions.

This is a trailed implement with three serrated rollers, covering a working width of 6m and operating speeds of up to 30kph.

“With the full-width replaceable steel blades cutting into crop residues and the soil surface, this implement is also effective on oilseed rape and maize stubbles, to encourage the breakdown of cover crop vegetation, and for controlling slugs,” said Paul Denton, the product development manager at Spaldings.

“Lower running costs compared with conventional cultivators result from the very high outputs achievable and from lower wearing parts costs.”

One of the secrets behind its high working speed is the way each of the rollers is connected to its frame by a patent-pending assembly incorporating rubber ‘doughnuts’ acting as shock absorbers.

“This allows enough movement between the frame and bearing to significantly reduce shock stress,” said Paul. “It’s a clever solution that enables the implement to operate at much higher speeds without shaking the bearing assembly to bits.”

Vaderstad

On show will be its latest precision drill – the Tempo L 18.

Available with row spacing down to 500mm, it is ideal for planting crops like oilseed rape and sugar beet, and has 18-row units available with 500mm or 508mm row spacing.

An ability to adjust the drill from 18 to 12 rows also makes it suitable for drilling other crops – like maize – as in the 12-row configuration the spacing can be set between 700 and 800mm.